Rise Kujikawa
Rise Kujikawa, better known by her stage name Risette, and occasionally known by her P-1 Grand Prix title The Scandalous Superstar Idol, Rise Kujikawa, is a popular Idol singer famed across Japan for her musical talents. She is a major character throughout the Persona 4 Anthology, appearing as a party member in all of the JRPGs and as a playable character in the second fighting game and rhythm game. Like Yukari Takeba before her, Rise is a member of The Lovers Arcana, and her social link empowers Persona of that arcana. Before the events of the series, Rise was a shy and heavily bullied girl from Inaba who entered a contest to become an Idol Singer, which she won. She was described as naturally talented, and was able to throw herself into music, acting and performance in an effort to reshape herself as a new person, the singer Risette. Over time, she began to realize that people only cared about her stage personality and not the real person, leading to the development of several complexes and putting stress on her career while isolating her from her peers. History Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Risette had planned a much hyped concert not far from her home town of Inaba at the Iwotodai Port Island Station's bar, Club Escapade, but the concert was canceled due to a freak electrical accident frying out the Club's power supply. Unbeknownst to anyone outside of the SEES squad, the "accident" was actually caused by their conflict with the powerful Hermit Arcana shadow underneath the Club during the Dark Hour. Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 With the stress of her job bearing down on her too much, Rise finally decided to retire from show business, returning to Inaba to live a quiet life with her family. Unfortunately, her return announcement caused massive local attention, even drowning out the ongoing murder investigation, with interviews and discussion of Rise on every local TV channel and rumors flying around the local Yasogami High School she would be attending. This increased attention prompted Yu Narukami and the Investigation Team to consider her the most likely next target for the Inaba Killer, as the Killer had previously limited themselves to only throwing targets who had recently appeared on TV into the Shadow World. After warning Rise about her potential danger, the Investigation Team decided to stake out her family restaurant, the Marukyu Tofu Shop, to ensure that no one arrived to kidnap her. While they were discovered by the police investigator Tohru Adachi, instead of ordering them off the investigation like his superior Ryotaro Dojima would, Adachi decided to work with the kids in staking out the Tofu Shop, eventually leading to a chase with a suspicious man who claimed to only be a stalker of Risette with no connection to the murders. Ignoring him, Adachi decided to arrest him and bring the stalker down to the station for questioning, taking him away. As the Investigation Team began to head back, they ran into Rise's hysterical grandmother who revealed that her granddaughter had gone missing. Fearing the worst, Narukami returned home and tuned in to the Midnight Channel, confirming that Rise had in fact been kidnapped and thrown into the TV while they were in pursuit of the stalker. After asking around town for more information about Rise, the Investigation Team were able to provide enough clues for Teddie to sniff out Rise's location in the Shadow World, leading them to the Marukyu Striptease, a seedy nightclub born from Rise's refusal to accept herself and her inability to escape her Idol past to live a normal life. Descending through several levels of the Striptease, the Investigation Team were able to find the true Rise, who attempted to block out the pain of her Shadow's taunts and jeers by denying that they could be the same person. Rise's denial gives the Shadow enough power to transform into a giant pole-dancing monster, forcing the Investigation Team to confront it. Shadow Rise's powerful spells and abilities to analyze the abilities and weaknesses of the Team pushed them to the limit, forcing Teddie to perform a near suicidal attack to finish the Shadow off- reverting it to its more normal appearing form. Realizing the truth, Rise accepts the Shadow as a part of herself, transforming it into the Persona, Himiko. While the Investigation Team celebrates their victory and prepares to take Rise home, Teddie's Shadow appears, attacking the party. Despite being weakened by her extended time trapped in the Shadow World and the strain of accepting her true self for the first time, Rise summoned Himiko to support the Investigation Team, using her analytic skills to help them overcome the massive bear monster, allowing Teddie to accept his true self as well and gain his own Persona, allowing him to join the Investigation Team in battle while Rise took over his previous job of Combat Navigator. With both Shadows defeated, Rise collapsed, forcing the Investigation Team to return to the real world to get her back to safety, while Teddie stayed in the Shadow World to work out, vowing to become strong enough to help the team in battle as a "true man". After her recovery, she began to attend Yasogami High School as a Freshman, and began to spend most of her free time with the members of the Investigation Team, enjoying the company of her first real friends while flirting with Yu Narukami whenever possible. When Narukami began spending time with her, they forged The Lovers social link. Over time, she opened up to him about her past as a shy, bullied girl who only became an Idol in an attempt to make friends. Around the same time, her former manager, Inoue, arrived in town, asking her to come back to show business. She reaffirmed her decision to stay in Inaba as Rise Kujikawa and to never be Risette again, much to the man's disappointment, but he decided to leave her be. After this, Yu and Rise begin to encounter an increased amount of advertising for the latest Idol Kanami "Kanamin" Mashita. During one of Yu and Rise's dates, Inoue appears one more time, to make absolutely sure that Rise has no interest in returning to show business, before telling her that he has been hired as Kanamin's manager, and that while she can be incredibly popular, he feels like he'll never see anyone with Rise's natural talent or potential in the business again, leaving Rise in tears. After receiving a heartfelt letter from one of her younger fans explaining how she still looked up to Risette, an extended period of soul searching, and conversations with Narukami, Rise came to discover that Risette wasn't just a stage personality, but a part of herself, and that she needed to return to show business in the fall. This revelation empowers her Persona, transforming Himiko into Kanzeon, strengthening Rise for the confrontation with the killer, and the mysterious power manipulating everything. She also gives Narukami a signed picture of herself as a souvenir, which he could use to create the most powerful Lovers Arcana Persona, Ishtar, the Goddess of Love. After the apprehension of the killer, and the defeat of the being creating the fog enveloping Inaba, Rise and the rest of the Investigation Team appeared at the train station to see Yu off on his way back home. Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth This is a stub- the game has not yet been released. During the Culture Festival in the middle of the events of the Murder Investigation, Rise and the rest of the Investigation Team find themselves wrapped in a mysterious time paradox, teaming up with SEES. After stopping the threat, Rise returned to the original timeline with no memory of the events that had transpired, just like everyone else involved. Persona 4: Golden Rise is able to upgrade her Persona for a third and final time by spending more time with Narukami, leading to Kanzeon's transformation into Kouzeon. She also appears in the new epilogue, having let her hair down and still seeking Narukami's approval. Persona 4: Arena After a mysterious force orchestrates the theft of the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon Labrys and has her thrown into the TV, Labrys' Shadow disguises herself as Teddie and kidnaps Rise, announcing the P-1 Grand Prix, a fighting tournament staring caricatures of the members of the Investigation Team. Shadow Labrys' goal was to force friends to fight and kill each other to force them to experience the suffering Labrys herself felt when she was forced to kill her sisters while in development by the Kirijo Group. Knowing that Kujikawa's analytic powers would let them see through her illusions and interrupt her plan, the Shadow ensured that the real Rise was out of the way, deeper in the false version of Yasogami High School created by Labrys' mind, while creating an illusion Rise to act as the tournament's announcer. She is rescued by the tournament's winner, and is witness to the revelation that Labrys was a robot, as well as Labrys acceptance of her other self and the creation of her Persona, Ariadne. Escorting Labrys out of the shadow world with her fellow Investigation Team members and the members of the Shadow Operatives who had arrived to find the stolen Labrys, Rise also witnessed the mysterious force behind the theft take remote control of Labrys and force her to attack the party, until Fuuka Yamagishi was able to counter the hack and rescue their new friend. Labrys joined the Shadow Operatives to be with her sister, fellow Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon Aigis, while the operatives' leader, Mitsuru Kirijo informed Narukami that the Investigation Team should let go of the unresolved case behind the attack on Labrys, stating that her team would handle it, to which Yu agreed. Rise was just as confused as everyone else at Yu's decision to leave the investigation to Mitsuru's team, but was relived to learn that he had no intention of following through on his word to her, reforming the Investigation Team officially once again. Kujikawa and the rest of the team were there to see Labrys off on her limo ride back to the Kirijo Facility, reaffirming that the robotic girl finally had friends, and waving goodbye until the limo was far out of view. Persona 4: Dancing All Night This is a stub- the game has not yet been released. Six months after the closing of the Inaba Murders Case, rumors began spreading that "at midnight, if you see a strange video playing on a certain site, you are transported to the 'other side' and will never wake up again," and members of the idol group "Kanamin Kitchen," which includes Rise's underclassman and rival, Kanami Mashita, are disappearing. Rise and the Investigation Team begin to work together again to uncover the mystery and its relation to the previous incident by traveling into the TV world to the Mayonaka Stage, where they find themselves working with Kanamin to defeat Shadows in dance battles to save the lives of the missing people. Persona 4: Arena Ultimax This is a stub- the game has not yet been released. While working on her comeback as an Idol, Rise discovers the red fog that has encased Inaba following the events of Persona 4: Arena, and her Persona evolves into a more combat-appropriate version of Himiko in response to her desire to save her friends, allowing her to enter the shadow world as a fighter for the first time. Appearances * Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 (2006) (mentioned only) * Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES (2007) (mentioned only) * Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (2008) * Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3: Portable (2009) (mentioned only) * Persona 4: Arena (2012) * Persona 4: Golden (2012) * Persona 4: The Ultimax Ultra Suplex Hold (2013) * Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth (2014) * Persona 4: Dancing All Night (2014) * Persona 5 (2017) Category:Characters Category:Party Member Category:JRPG Category:Playable Characters